By the Numbers: Benchmarking Progress Toward Financial Inclusion

By the Numbers is a quantitative review of the current status of financial inclusion globally, which relies on the two Findex datasets supplemented by data from the EIU Global Microscope 2014, UN, World Development Indicators, IMF, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and the GSMA State of the Industry.

Key findings:

• The world – every region, income level, and “slice” of the global population – is moving toward greater financial access;
• Financial exclusion will look much different in 2020 than it looks today;
• Universal financial access is a first step toward full financial inclusion;
• Although the number of accounts has grown, many of these accounts are not in active use;
• Progress on inclusion requires building and maintaining an enabling ecosystem including policy, regulation, and industry infrastructure.